When Ahmad Zeidabadi, the imprisoned Iranian journalist, won the Press Freedom Prize, the international media community celebrates in fact the indestructible connection between freedom of press and pure political freedom. Zeidabadi has received the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize as “a tribute to his exceptional courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression, democracy, human rights, tolerance, and humanity”. Zeidabadi has been a newspaper columnist and editor, as well as a contributor to the BBC Persian news service and the Persian-English website Rooz and a professor of political science. He also was elected president of one of Iran’s leading student organizations, the Iranian Alumni Association. Close to the reformist circles, Zeidabadi was particularly skilled in providing analysis and context on Iranian foreign and economic policies, but did not show a particular political affiliation. The freedom fight by writing on behalf of democracy and human rights was a common theme in his editorial work.
He has been jailed on and off since 2000, and he gained prominence for an open letter after his first arrest, in which he detailed the mistreatment of journalists in prison. Zeidabadi was arrested two days after Iran’s disputed 2009 presidential election. He faced charges in a mass trial for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government with a “soft revolution” and received a sentence of six years in prison, five years of internal exile and a lifetime ban on practicing journalism. His attorney has said that Zeidabadi is being held at Rajaee Shahr Prison along with other political prisoners. At least 26 other journalists are also still behind bars in Iran.
Article published in "The Brussels Journal", May 2011
